Free The Avengers Assemble by Thomas Macri Page A

Thor said to Jane. “But I give you my word, I will return for you.”
    And with that, Thor and his Asgardian companions were sucked into a prismatic portal and away from Earth.

BIFROST
    Whilst Thor was banished to Midgard, Loki used his time in Asgard to dominate the Realm. The Bifrost, being the key to travel between Realms and also a powerful force of energy in itself, was an integral part of his plan. Loki approached the Rainbow Bridge, used the Casket of Ancient Winters to freeze Heimdall, and traveled over the prismlike road to Jotunheim.
    Once in the enemy kingdom, Loki set out to seek Laufey. Upon finding the Jotun king, Loki disclosed how he had sneaked in the Frost Giants during Thor’s coronation and offered Laufey the opportunity to re-enter Asgard—this time to murder Odin, who was in the mystical Odinsleep. Loki would then see to it that the Casket of Ancient Winters be returned to its rightful place in Jotunheim, and Laufey and Loki would part in peace.
    Laufey, no fool, agreed to Loki’s plan. Soon, Frost Giants were marching into Asgard. As the Jotuns invaded, Laufey approached Odin’s bedchamber and, smiling, prepared to kill the Allfather. But just before the deed was about to be done, Loki murdered Laufey. Now he would be hailed as a hero. And with Thor banished to Midgard, he would be the rightful ruler of Asgard!
    Before Loki could flee Odin’s chamber, in order to complete the final phase of his plan—to destroy Jotunheim in order to cement his place in the annals of Asgardian history as the great savior of his people—he noticed that the other Frost Giants had been driven back. Only one warrior in all of Asgard possessed such power—his brother, Thor. But Thor was exiled to Midgard…
    Thor confronted his brother, and a fierce battle began. It started in Odin’s chambers, and soon the two brothers found themselves fighting inside Heimdell’s Observatory. Loki planned to steer all the energy of the Rainbow Bridge toward Jotunheim and destroy the Realm.
    Thor flew toward Loki and began to struggle with him again. But Loki did not betray his reputation for quickness and trickery. Thor found the battle complicated and difficult, and eventually he realized that the only way to prevent the full-on destruction of Jotunheim was to destroy the Bifrost. He thought about his adventure on Midgard and all that he’d learned—and learned to love—there. He might never be able to return if the Bifrost was destroyed.
    He raised Mjolnir and began to hammer away more and more furiously until dazzling crystal pieces of the bridge drifted into the sea of space surrounding it. As the bridge exploded, the two brothers were blasted off the ruined bridge and dangled on the edge of space. But their father, having emerged from his sleep, grabbed hold of Thor, who in turn held on to Loki. Thor did everything he could to save his brother. But Loki allowed himself to slip from Thor’s grasp and fell, screaming, into the void of space.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
    IT WAS DIFFICULT to make out exactly what was happening in New York City, but a large blur of a figure was moving at great speeds, converging with vehicles, buildings, and the ground, and generally wreaking havoc on 125 th Street in Harlem.
    The destruction was more widespread than it had been earlier. There was more rubble and smoke everywhere. And now for the first time, a camera fixed itself on the face of the monster causing the chaos.
    An ugly blue-gray…thing—about fifteen feet tall, judging its height compared to the nearby lampposts—looked like a bulging mass of twisted muscle and overgrown bones. Its hands and legs were enormous—each about the size of a tree trunk—and though its head was small as compared to the rest of it, it had a terrifying reptilianlike quality that made it no less intimidating than the rest of the creature. The spikes that protruded from its spine did nothing to